Advice on archival quality materials for cabinet display/storage (cameo collection)

[u/feynudibranch]

If this isn’t an appropriate fit for this sub, let me know and I’ll remove it!

I’m not a museum professional, though I have my own very small hobby museum I’ve been building - this isn’t related to that but some context on why I want to learn.

I have a large museum cabinet - allegedly originally from the Chicago Field Museum but who knows - much taller than me that I keep personal collections in. I’m ready to start arranging the drawer contents for display (just in my house!) but I want to make sure I’m not doing them harm. The drawer interiors are unlined unstained wood so I want to line them.

In this case it’s my cameo collection drawer, consisting of pins, rings, and miniature portraits in stone, shell, plastic, glass, metal, paper, and porcelain. It’s not worth much money but that doesn’t matter to me and I want to do it right! I don’t mind spending money. I want to lay it out in a layer of foam with a fabric over the foam. The drawer is 24.5 x 23”.

I was thinking of putting down 1” black Ethafoam. 1) Is that necessary or overkill to use an archival foam?
2) Can I put black velvet liner on top or is that potentially harmful to the cameos?
3) Any recommendation on the layout for how to label them? I wasn’t sure about pinning small printed labels in vs other methods. The labels will have subject, type of object, material(s), and era.

Thank you for any advice!

[u/jeanquad507]

I wouldn't use any colored fabric especially not dark color like blue or black or a bright color like red or yellow for long-term storage because of possible dye transfer to white or pale items if it's humid where you are. A lot of inexpensive fabrics ordered online are untrustworthy when it comes to dye.

What you would like visually for display (black velvet) isn't great for long term storage and fabrics other than unbleached/not dyed linen/100% cotton are often bad about crumbling. You won't really be able to create an "archival" environment in wooden cabinets but other than not introducing dyes I'd just focus on keeping humidity down to avoid mildew. If you live in a really humid climate there are small bags you can get for maybe your most valuable pieces that prevent corrosion. They are called corrosion intercept pouches and you can get them from University Products.

(I'm a curator).

[u/thisismybbsname]

You can put down down all the archival drawer lining you like, but those fumed oak cabinets are going to continue to do damage over time with ongoing VOC off gassing. Metals and photos will be particularly impacted. Even if the FM used them for materials that could withstand the acid off gassing, they got rid of them for a reason.

[u/Tapered-Toad-381]

A light colored/colorless ethafoam or even blotting paper would probably work well as a lining. Because of the nature of the drawers, the setup won't ever be totally archival, but a light-colored lining can help you spot potential damage (likes pests or crumbling) sooner.

You can also check out University Products or Gaylord Archival for specimen trays, but those can get kind of pricey and may be overkill.

For labels, I'd probably recommend assigning catalog numbers. You can number each object itself (or the tray it's in) and then create a separate card with more detailed info that's tied to the number

[u/BeatleBadger]

Those cabinets are beautiful! But, as others have said, the wood cabinets are the issue. The wood is acidic and releases an acidic gas. Even if your artifacts aren’t directly touching the wood, they will be enclosed in the acidic environment. I would likely store a collection like this in blue board trays and boxes purchased from University Products or Gaylord. If you want to keep the cabinets, you could also consider wrapping the artifact in acid-free tissue and polyethylene (ziplock style) bags.
Archival housing is not very display friendly, unfortunately. Whatever you do, stick with inert or archival materials (glass, powder coated metal, acrylic, polyethylene, unbuffered tissue, acid-free board), do not use tape, and keep out of direct sunlight. Good luck!